Since the mid 5th century there has been a castle where the Parto meets the Lise. Originally surrounded by verdant woodland it was the summer residence of the King of Calanz. A small town grew up around the castle walls to house the masons, carpenters and smiths needed for the upkeep of such a building. The area from the wooded region around the confluence to the coast was known to the locals as Eriese, after the woodland godess of the pre-Carycian faith. The citadel also took the name, but in the intervening centuries, with the influence of the Calanzian tongue, it was distorted to Erezi.

Franco XV fled Calanz during the invasion of the Arlian plainsmen in 776, and it was only along the mountainous and forested Eriese-Calanz border that his men could hold back the armies of the warlord Rache. By the time the armies reached Eriese, the skilled craftsmen had erected fortified walls around the citadel and the King was safe inside.

After a year long siege, a peace treaty was signed between Franco and Rache, in which sovereignty of Calanz was handed to Rache and Franco was allowed to continue ruling the province of Eriese.

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"Happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes" - H P Lovecraft, The Festival

By the end of Franco IIIÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s reign, the people were so dissatisfied with his conservative attitude towards the new trade opportunities opening up in the West, and with his insistent campaign against Calanz (an effort to recapture his homeland) that they revolted and deposed him, sent him into exile as a monk in the Carycian mountains. This was doubtless spurred by the heads of the powerful merchant families who stood most to gain from his fall, and indeed who quickly established an oligarchical dynasty which stood for nearly three centuries before the accession of the Mantoneschi to the Dukedom of Erezi.

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"Happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes" - H P Lovecraft, The Festival

The Oligarchii Mercantii opened up trade with newly discovered far Makast and Oryx, and by setting up enterprising deals with neighbouring countries, they soon made Erezi the richest country in the whole of the South-West.

Their main political mistake was their involvement in the Makast-Aldabi war. At the time, they sought to maintain trade relations with both countries, by sending warriors to help Makast and giving medical aid to Aldabi. In return for certain quantities of gold and precious stones which now decorate the wealth houses of Erezi, they agreed to take in immigrants from both countries. These immigrants were herded into ghettos on the north side of the Parto, much to the disgust of the resident Erezians. There was conflict between the different nationalities of immigrants, and the ghettos became violent, dangerous places.

This was one of the faults in the Oligarchii which Amando di Mantoneschi capitalised on when making his bid for power. He started rumours and spread propaganda for several months awaiting the death of his more cautious father, before striding boldly into the Piazza dei Clonchi with a small armed force and declaring himself Duke of Erezi, replacing the incompetent Oligarchs ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œfor the good of the peopleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬?.

People did not oppose him: even the Oligarchs realised that they would be running counter to popular opinion if they made any overt attempt against his rise to power. There were however several assassination attempts made against him, and there have been on his ancestors since then.

Though the Oligarchs lost their positions, they were still guild-leaders and therefore wielded power which they could use to influence the Duke. In fact they began to find him quite useful on occasion.

Now there has been almost a century of Mantoneschi rule.

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"Happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes" - H P Lovecraft, The Festival

When Amando di Mantoneschi came to power, he did not make all the reforms he had promised. He put restrictions on the guilds, limiting their membership to a certain class of income. He separated the ghettos to reduce violence. He moved into the Palace. By the time people had realised that he had caused so much damage, he was too powerful a tyrant to take down.

The restrictions placed on the guilds meant that ordinary people couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t be professionals as they used to be. In 1308, a few years after the law had first been established, Tomaso dÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢Alerco secretly began La Mace dÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢Ars, an illegal guild for those who couldnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t afford membership of an official guild. It offered protection and cooperation, it would help its members to succeed in their chosen occupation. Unknown to dÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢Alerco such an organisation had already begun. Deep in the ghettos, the Orzi Verci had formed for exactly the same purpose. Though it did not have the financial standing of the Mace dÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢Ars, it certainly had the membership.

After a little while, the respective guilds became aware of one another, and the authorities became aware of both of their existences. Each was shocked of the prospect of competition, and a long and bloody feud began between the two guilds. Of course the feud is very covertly conducted, since its discovery would lead to all illegal guild members being executed by the Duke.

Thus we find the city as it is today, divided by race and alleigance, its conflicts and hatreds concealed for fear of the oppressive family of tyrants who rule over it. Thus it has been for a century since the accession of the Mantoneschi.

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"Happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes" - H P Lovecraft, The Festival